Photonic devices, such as optical and electromagnetic devices, are devices that create, manipulate, propagate, and/or measure electromagnetic radiation. Their applications vary broadly and include, but are not limited to, antennas, acousto-optic modulators, optical modulators, optical ring resonators, distributed Bragg reflectors, lasers, lenses, transistors, waveguides, and the like. Design of these devices is sometimes determined through a simple guess and check method in which a small number of design parameters of a pre-determined design are adjusted for suitability to a particular application. However, in actuality, these devices may have design parameters ranging from hundreds all the way to many billions, dependent on the device size and functionality. As functionality of these photonic devices is increased and manufacturing improves to allow for smaller device feature sizes, it becomes increasingly important to take full advantage of these improvements via optimized device design.